Riding Chance Read online

  That caught me off guard, so I stood straight up, sorta like a zombie. “Well,” I said, “trance on this.” I stayed like that for a few seconds, then took off on my bike. “Last one in looks like Percy the goat,” I shouted over my shoulder.

  We tore up that last stretch of road. I won.

  THAT’S THE DAY Winston started giving us real horseback riding lessons. First, we mucked out the stalls; then he showed us how to groom the horses, you know, how to brush them and everything, before we rode. Not bareback, but with a saddle.

  Riding was more work. The horses had to be taken care of before and after you rode. And you had to take care of the leather stuff, too. But even with all that, I liked being there. Sometimes it was hard to believe I was still in Philly.

  Oh, and there was Alisha. She was in the tack room when I went in to put the saddle blanket I’d used back on the rack.

  “It’s starting to feel like you’ve been here forever,” she said.

  I looked around at all the equipment in the room. Just a little while ago, I didn’t know what any of this was. “It’s not bad.”

  “Not bad,” she said. “Come on, you know you like it.” She threw the cloth she’d been using to polish her horse’s halter at me.

  “I said it’s all right.” I bent down to pick up the cloth.

  “Well, you know you passed his test.”

  “Whose test?”

  “Uncle Winston’s, dummy.”

  “He’s just doing his job.” I handed the cloth back to her.

  “This is way more than his job,” she said. “He doesn’t waste his time on kids who aren’t worth it.”

  “Worth it?” I frowned. “How do you know I’m worth it?”

  “It shows,” she said, looking straight at me. “You’re not the same knucklehead you were when you started.”

  This time I didn’t hide my face. “Knucklehead,” I said. “I was never like that.”

  “You know what I mean,” she said. “I was a mess for a long time after my parents died, too.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. I’d never talked about this with anybody before. “Do you still miss them?” I asked.

  “Yeah, but it gets better and … you … still have your dad, right?”

  I took a deep breath. “Not really.” I took another deep breath ’cause I felt my chin starting to tremble. “I don’t really have my dad right now. He’s sad all the time.”

  “Well, you’re lucky you found this place,” she said, leaning in to me. “This place makes everybody feel better.” Her face seemed to shine right then. It was hard to believe she’d ever been sad. We didn’t say anything else. There wasn’t any need to.

  Foster was waiting for me out in front of the stables. It was my turn to let Winston know we were leaving. He was in his office when I knocked on the door.

  “Me and Foster are taking off,” I said.

  He waved me inside. Winston never beat around the bush. He just jumped right into whatever he had to say. “Have you ever been in a relationship?”

  I’d just finished talking to Alisha, so I thought he was heading someplace I didn’t want to go. “What kind of relationship?”

  “I’m not talking about my niece, although I see you’re friends.” He leaned back in his chair.

  “Well, if you hadn’t jammed me on my second day, she may not have paid any attention to me.”

  Winston smiled. “I needed to see what you’re made of,” he said. “You been looking for something, right? You’ve done some stupid stuff but you’re not a bad kid.”

  “What’s it to you?” I said, looking out the window.

  “You move well and you try to play cool, but if you’re going to play with me and my horses, you need more than that.”

  I still didn’t know where the conversation was going.

  “You need heart,” he said. “I asked you about relationships because I’m hooking you up with Chance. She’s a polo pony and I think she’s right for you.”

  “You make it sound like Chance is gonna be my girlfriend.”

  “She better be.”

  I DIDN’T WANT TO BE the kind of dude who’s scared of his girlfriend, but Chance was bigger than me, way bigger. She could jack me up if I didn’t know what I was doing. So, soon as I got home, I started working out. I liked to use the front porch for stuff like that.

  I pushed the red-and-white metal chairs all the way back up against the house so I had enough room. I was on my twentieth push-up when Mr. Glover had something to say. He was hosing down the sidewalk in front of our house.

  “A bond exists between humans and animals.” He’d rolled his army fatigues up above his ankles and he was wearing a pair of green flip-flops.

  “I know.”

  “Are you establishing a rapport?”

  “Mm-hmm.” I was on my twenty-third push-up.

  “Take your time with the courtship.” He guided some cigarette butts off the sidewalk with a stream of water. “It’ll make for a much happier marriage.”

  “I’m not trying to have no horse babies. Just learning how to ride.”

  “Take the time to appreciate the animal,” he said, all serious. “You won’t regret it.” I wondered how he knew so much about horses. He must have figured that’s what I was thinking. “I’m not a horseman myself, but I grew up on a farm,” he said, turning off the water. “Things always went better when you worked with the animals, not against them.”

  Mr. Glover rolled up his hose and took it inside his house. I stayed out on the porch and did fifty push-ups total.

  There was something to what Mr. Glover said. I don’t wanna get all mushy, but Chance was always on my mind. More than some girls I used to like. And it wasn’t just one way. She was checking me out, too. Same with that goat, Percy. He was always watching everything. Like he had to make sure you were okay before he got close to you.

  I stood up and started to rearrange the porch furniture when I felt somebody looking at me from the sidewalk. It was Lay-Lay. He had this little smirk on his face. His mouth was all red from this cherry water ice he was eating. He didn’t try to wipe his lips or nothing.

  “Long time no see,” he said. He leaned up against Mr. Glover’s car like it was his.

  “Been busy.”

  “So I hear.” He finished his water ice and dropped the crumpled paper cup on the sidewalk. “So, what, you’re too good for the block now?”

  “Who’s saying that?”

  “I just heard it somewhere.”

  “You believe everything you hear?”

  Lay-Lay shrugged. “I’m just telling you what I heard.”

  The screen door opened behind me but I didn’t turn around to see who it was. Didn’t want Lay-Lay to think I couldn’t stare him down.

  “Nobody at this address cares about what you heard, Lay-Lay.” Grandmom came out on the porch with her watering jar. She fussed over her plants before she looked back up. “Who threw that trash on the sidewalk?” she said. “Lay-Lay, please pick that up.”

  He kicked the crumpled cup off the sidewalk into the gutter. “What do I look like—a garbage can?” He crossed the street and headed down to the corner where a bunch of guys were hanging out. That dude must not have had nothing else to do ’cause he was still on the corner when I turned the porch light off before I went to bed.

  ALISHA WAS TIGHT with all the animals, so at first, I thought it was a female thing. I wasn’t sure if a dude could really be like that. Winston set me straight.

  “Chance already knows you from the time you’ve spent grooming her,” he said. “We’re going to build on that.” He always smiled at the horses and said thank you when they did what he asked them to do. “Watch how Chance is with the other horses, talk to her, play with her. Basically, act like a horse.”

  “Act like a horse?” I said. “I’m not getting down on my hands and knees.”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. I want Chance to see you as a member of the herd. If she trusts you on the gro
und, she’ll follow your commands more easily when you’re riding.”

  Foster worked mostly with Luke. It didn’t look like they had a thing like me and Chance did. Winston gave him the same advice, but Foster wouldn’t do it. Said it was stupid. But if you asked me, it looked like Foster was scared of Luke. He was sorta jerky around him and never really wanted to be alone with him.

  Me? I felt good with Chance. So I started acting like a horse. I stretched my back legs like she did. Shook my head like she did, too. Winston said I was a natural. I don’t know about that, but what really got me was when Chance hugged me. She bent her neck over my shoulder and put her face against my back. Didn’t nobody tell me horses got cute like that.

  Being with Chance had me thinking about all kinds of stuff. Like what you could do if you could ride a horse. I didn’t want to be no cop, but some of them got to be around horses all the time. That’s what I wanted.

  Grandmom said I was too big to be a jockey. She knew ’cause she went to the Kentucky Derby one year. That was a long time ago, before she had Pops and Uncle Ronnie. Said once you got into horses, you couldn’t get them out of your blood. Said that’s what was happening to me.

  School didn’t even bug me so much. I mean, Mr. Paul was still stupid and you could get in trouble for the least little thing but, mostly, I didn’t let none of that bother me. Even when Mr. Bell told me I was wasting my time dreaming about horses.

  “No way that’s going to lead anywhere,” he said. “Better stick to what you know.”

  Like I said, stupid. I just did what I had to do to get over to the stables.

  I had Chance coming to me, following me, and she would stop when I said “whoa.” Foster said I was like some dudes with their dogs. I wish. I could see Grandmom’s face if I tried to bring Chance home. I would just bring her right up to the sidewalk. Yup, tie her up to the street sign right next to Mr. Glover’s TV.

  WINSTON HAD US RIDING every day we were at the stables. We always had to do our work first, but there was plenty of time left over to ride. I even talked Pops into coming over to watch. That was something. I couldn’t even sleep the night before and that’s unusual for me. I can sleep through anything, sirens, barking dogs, whatever. I spent the whole night going over everything, you know, how to get the horse ready for riding, how to mount, how to sit, just everything.

  Pops hadn’t been to the stables since we first started. Me and Foster were tacking up when I saw him standing there. He looked little compared to the horses. He had on his lucky jacket, though, his red Windbreaker. It made him look happy even if he wasn’t.

  “I see why you need the rubber boots,” he said. “You’re not scared of these big things?” he added, looking around at the horses.

  “Nah.” I was glad I didn’t have to lie about that anymore.

  “Hey, Mr. Butler,” Foster said, lifting his chin toward Pops.

  “Foster, I hardly see you on the block anymore.”

  “They keep us busy here.”

  “So I see,” said Pops, turning to look at Alisha as she walked by.

  We had saddles on the horses and were tightening the girths. Pops didn’t say anything about the smell. Stuff like that didn’t bother him. He walked all around the stables, studying everything. Then he sat down on the grass under a big tree.

  I squeezed Chance with my legs and we started walking. Then, from out of nowhere, I had that feeling again that my mom was with me. I don’t know, maybe Pops brought that feeling with him. We went round and round the yard and it felt like, somehow, our family was together again.

  “If you’re comfortable, cue her for a trot,” said Winston, walking around the inside of the yard.

  I looked over at Foster. His eyes were so wide, like they were ready to pop out of his head. “I hope I don’t fall off this thing,” he said. Funny, him calling Luke a thing.

  “Don’t tense up,” said Winston. “You know what you need to do. Give the horse more rein so you get in the right seat.”

  Me and Chance didn’t have any problems. We just flowed right into a trot, that’s all.

  Pops was standing by the fence in his lucky jacket. He looked lighter or something. Like a weight was coming off his shoulders. Foster stopped way before I did. Said his legs hurt from all the bumping up and down. Winston slapped him on the back, and Foster took Luke around to the back to hose him down. I just kept riding Chance around the ring.

  “Way to go, Troy.” Winston gave me a thumbs-up. Me and Chance slid back into walking before we went over to Winston, and I dismounted.

  “You were great,” Winston said, giving me a high five. “Keep this up and you’ll be taking Marcus’s spot at exhibition. You know his family’s moving away.”

  Me, playing polo? “I thought I had to wait another year for that,” I said.

  “Not if you’re really good.” Winston looked over at Pops. “Polo is really about being a good horseman.”

  Me charging down a field on a horse? Winston blew me away.

  I gave Chance a little sip of water before I took her around to clean her up. Man, me and her were riding strong. Pops came around to the hose before he left. He gave me a playful punch on the shoulder.

  “My son riding a horse,” he said, smiling. “I’ll have to bring Grandmom so she can see you.” I hadn’t seen him smile like that in a long time. It made him look young again.

  Dre was waiting for me when I brought Chance back around to the front of the barn.

  “Whoa, little brother, what’s this? A victory lap?” He slapped me five. “I’ve never seen a new rider progress like you.”

  That was one of the best days I ever had. I didn’t know it was going to be one of my last good days for a long while.

  THE NEXT SATURDAY, we went out to Blanchard Polo Club. It wasn’t in Philly. It was about an hour outside the city, in the country. We used to go on family trips to the other side of Pennsylvania, but we never stopped in any towns along the way. Grandmom said it wasn’t too long ago when we weren’t welcome out there. She still wasn’t sure about it.

  Dre said Winston knew everybody in the polo world. Sounded like he was a big deal to these folks. He always dressed nice, but that day he could have been on the cover of GQ. The crease in his pants looked like it could cut you, and his white shirt set off his dark skin real nice. And his watch—what’s that word they use to sell expensive stuff? Classic. It was shaped like a rectangle, in a socket so he could turn the face inside out with his thumb. When the face was down, you couldn’t tell what time it was ’cause all you saw was a metal case. He said watches like that were first made back in the day to prevent polo balls from smashing the face.

  Alisha was the bomb. Girl had on a white dress with a mean pair of leather riding boots. The shine on them almost blinded me. To top it off, she had on a straw hat with flowers on the brim.

  Me and Foster had been dying to get a ride in Winston’s two-seater convertible but Winston borrowed Dre’s white van for the day. There wasn’t much room with all the equipment Dre always carried around and Jerome, who invited himself at the last minute. Winston wasn’t too happy about that, either. He’d had it out with Jerome about his drawings on the bulletin board.

  We saw some funny stuff on the way to Blanchard. Folks dressed like the olden days. Saw a bunch of men with long beards driving these horse-and-buggy things. Winston said they were Amish.

  “I’m starting to get sickside.” That was Foster. He was all slumped down in his seat.

  “Seasick. We’re nowhere near water.” Alisha turned around to look at him.

  “I know, but all these little hills twisting and turning is getting to me.”

  “Most people think these rolling hills are beautiful,” said Winston, checking out Foster in the rearview mirror. “You’re the first person I’ve met who finds it sickening.”

  “Maybe you need to eat,” I said.

  “Don’t worry about eating,” said Alisha. “Wait until you see the spread at the club.” She tu
rned back around, smiling to herself.

  “Why do you think I’m here?” asked Jerome. Actually, nobody knew why he came with us. This was supposed to be a chance for me and Foster to see a pro match.

  Alisha rolled her window down so Foster could get more air. “We’ve been invited into the VIP tent, thanks to Uncle Winston.”

  “We knew you were the man,” Jerome said, tapping Winston on the shoulder.

  I’d already seen our team play the Jersey guys, so I knew the basics. The game looked like it was just about getting the ball through the goalposts, but it was really about controlling your horse.

  “It’ll do you guys good to be on the scene,” Winston said. We were pulling off the road onto this real long driveway. We weren’t even at the club, but it was already beautiful. I never saw grass so green. And all the trees looked like they came straight out of a book, no vines or brown spots on them. The birds were even better than the ones we saw around our way, pretty red and yellow ones. Pigeons must not have been allowed out there. The driveway took us past fields with lots of horses. Everything about them was perfect.

  “Who lives there?” I asked, pointing to trailers parked off to the side.

  “Oh, those belong to the polo players,” Winston said. “A lot of these guys travel around the country, playing on the circuit.”

  Finally, we pulled up near the playing field. There were bleachers on one side with some cars parked real close by. People were tailgating in little groups.

  “Why didn’t we bring any food?” Foster asked. “I’m starving.”

  Winston pointed across the field to a big white tent. “You’re in for a treat,” he said.

  Just checking out the cars was already a treat. Winston parked the van between a Mercedes and a Jag and we walked over the polo field to the tent. All I can say is, he wasn’t lying about the grub. We had shrimp, steak, the sweetest corn on the cob I ever tasted, ice cream, everything. And all the stuff they talk about on Grandmom’s cooking shows was laid out, too. Oysters and all these cheeses that smelled kinda bad. The whole setup was like a wedding you see on TV. Tables with white tablecloths and flowers. Looked like there was a bar in every corner.